Harry Potter and the Bet
by The Little House Scribe
Summary: When Harry is challenged by the Twins to a wager, he sees no reason to refuse...


"Evening guys, what are you up to?" Fourth year Harry Potter asked the Weasley Twins, Fred and George, who were bent over a cauldron next to an open window in the Gryffindor common room.

"Glad you asked Harry." George looked up, beckoning Harry over to sit with them; the fumes wafted up his nostrils – Harry didn't know what to make of them.

"It's not ready yet, but we'll get there." George assured him, as if Harry had expressed personal concern for whatever it was they were brewing.

"That's err…nice." Harry said, peering into the cauldron. "What is it?"

"We, dear Harry, are in the process of creating our soon-to-be-famous Love Potion Line." George replied.

"Incidently, Harry, who's the best?" Fred asked.

Harry looked completely non-plussed. "What?"

"We need to align the particular potion to the person it is meant for." George explained, tapping a powdery substance into the cauldron. "So then the user can customize it for his or herself."

"So we need to know who's the best, so we can base the Harry Potter line of love potions upon whoever it is."

Harry raised his eyebrow at that tid-bit of information. "Yeah, well, if you're going to do that, wouldn't you rather base it upon whoever I fancy?" Harry queried. "That is, if I do fancy anyone." Harry hastily amended, but then he wondered why he'd even asked the question – _Why even help the twins with their plot._

But, it didn't seem to matter. "Because, Harry, crushes come and go; we need something more reliable." Fred told him. "So, who is it?"

"As if I'm going to tell you." Truthfully, Harry had no idea what the twins meant; but unfortunately for him, it didn't bother them.

"We'll find out." Fred promised shrewdly. Harry scoffed. "Wanna bet?"

"Yeah, actually, we do." George said.

"Sure, but there's got to be some sort of time limit." Harry countered.

"How about… until the end of the month?"

"Fair enough. What's the wager?"

"If we win, you've got to spend a week wearing these." George unfurled a set of robes bearing the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes logo.

"And if I win?" Harry asked.

"I'm sure you'll think of something in that extremely unlikely eventuality…"

After a week, Harry was relaxed about the whole thing; the twins had not, as he feared, used Truth Serum which he had been told of by Professor Snape. In fact, all they'd done (to no avail) was ask him.

As the month drew to a close, Harry was more and more confidents. Days shrunk into hours, and one evening in the common room, Fred and George cornered Harry for one last desperate effort to win their bet.

For hours they hounded Harry, who was getting heartily sick of answering their duplicate questions. In fact, as midnight drew near, he was twitching slightly, as Fred and George, oblivious, continued to chant: "Who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, -OW!"

The twins stopped when Ginny Weasley, having seen the warning signs, came up behind them, and firmly thumped the back of their heads.

The twins stood up and turned around, glaring at her. "What'd you do that for?"

"Yeah, how'd you like if we whacked you?"

"Not very much." Ginny said, but the Twins, clearly beaten, disappeared.

"Sorry about that, Harry." Ginny said, as Harry started to relaxed. "They're usually not so…annoying."

Harry just looked up gratefully. "Thanks, Ginny. You're the best."

"AH HA!" The twins cried, appearing out of nowhere, and dancing around Ginny, whose nose wrinkled at their antics. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Harry groaned and buried his face in his palms, before his eyes noticed the clock on the wall.

"It's past midnight guys." Harry told them.

The Twins' grins broadened. "No it's not, Harry."

Fred went over and wound the clock back. It was five minutes to midnight.

"You put the clock forward." Harry said, his heart sinking. Fred and George nodded, beaming proudly.

"You know mate, we were never really going to make a series of personalised love potions."

"Nevertheless, good to know what you really, really feel."

Harry glared at them quite uselessly, as the Twins continued to dance around the quite confused Ginny.


End file.
